We're all mutants, say scientists

[Alexandros]

Each of us has between 100 and 200 new genetic mutations


We're all mutants, say scientists

Page last updated at 13:09 GMT, Wednesday, 2 September 2009 14:09 UK

By Sudeep Chand

Science Reporter, BBC News

Each of us has at least 100 new mutations in our DNA, according to research published in the journal Current Biology.

Scientists have been trying to get an accurate estimate of the mutation rate for over 70 years.

However, only now has it been possible to get a reliable estimate, thanks to "next generation" technology for genetic sequencing.

The findings may lead to new treatments and insights into our evolution.

In 1935, one of the founders of modern genetics, JBS Haldane, studied a group of men with the blood disease haemophilia. He speculated that there would be about 150 new mutations in each of us.

Others have since looked at DNA in chimpanzees to try to produce general estimates for humans.

However, next generation sequencing technology has enabled the scientists to produce a far more direct and reliable estimate.

They looked at thousands of genes in the Y chromosomes of two Chinese men. They knew the men were distantly related, having shared a common ancestor who was born in 1805.

By looking at the number of differences between the two men, and the size of the human genome, they were able to come up with an estimate of between 100 and 200 new mutations per person.

Impressively, it seems that Haldane was right all along.

Unimaginable

One of the scientists, Dr Yali Xue from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire, said: "The amount of data we generated would have been unimaginable just a few years ago.

"And finding this tiny number of mutations was more difficult than finding an ant's egg in an emperor's rice store."

New mutations can occasionally lead to severe diseases like cancer. It is hoped that the findings may lead to new ways to reduce mutations and provide insights into human evolution.

Joseph Nadeau, from the Case Western Reserve University in the US, who was not involved in this study said: "New mutations are the source of inherited variation, some of which can lead to disease and dysfunction, and some of which determine the nature and pace of evolutionary change.

"These are exciting times," he added.

"We are finally obtaining good reliable estimates of genetic features that are urgently needed to understand who we are genetically."

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[Haykakan]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

Reducing mutations will make a huge dent in the number of cancer cases but it will also slow down our own evolution. Mutations are how all living things evolve, unfortunatley bad mutations outnumber good ones by liike a billion to one but without that one we cant walk upright and without another we cant speak, without another our brains stay small...Treating cancer more effectively is probably the better way to go then eliminating mutations because if we eliminate mutations we will never become what we could have been.

[MrHyeSev]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

It all depends on what you believe in, if you believe in science then there you go, but other religions think that scientists don't give out the correct information.

[KanadaHye]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

It all depends on what you believe in, if you believe in science then there you go, but other religions think that scientists don't give out the correct information.

You mean Mr. Sudeep Chand isn't knowledgeable enough on the subject to make an educated report?

[MrHyeSev]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

I never said that, I said some people don't believe in what scientists have to say.

[iFemale]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

I never said that, I said some people don't believe in what scientists have to say.

Omg, Captain Obvious has escaped once again!

[KanadaHye]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

I never said that, I said some people don't believe in what scientists have to say.

I know what you meant Pepsi, I was just messing with you

[Siggie]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

Pepsi should be banned from posting in the Science forum...

You don't believe in science? It's not a freaking unicorn or the tooth fairy.
Do you use a computer, watch tv, go to the doctor when you're sick, drive a car, vaccinate your dog, take medication, listen to the weather forecast, eat food (I know you do this one... it's nearly all you post about), etc? Then like science or not, practically everything you take for granted in life was made possible by the science and scientists you don't trust or believe in. Science is evidence based and religion, faith based... Hmm... Which stands on shakier ground?

[Federate]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

I never said that, I said some people don't believe in what scientists have to say.

I'm gonna make a deal with you PepsiAddict. Every time you make a post that points out the obvious, i'm gonna show you this picture until you understand its meaning.

[Crimson Glow]

Re: We're all mutants, say scientists

It all depends on what you believe in, if you believe in science then there you go, but other religions think that scientists don't give out the correct information.

So.....you rely on people who blindly believe something, simply because they were born into a culture that subscribes to that same belief, to decipher what is "correct information"?

I never said that, I said some people don't believe in what scientists have to say.

Yes, I believe they're called inbred rednecks, and people from 3rd world countries who still believe in superstition due to a lack of education. Questioning findings and results through logical and rational means is one thing, but saying "I don't believe in science" is about as ignorant as saying "I don't believe in dinosaurs". Sure, you're free to make such a statement, but you have to understand that it indicates to others that you have the intellect and mental capacity of Albert Einstein's stool.